The Importance of Being Yellow
by Oven-Mitt Troll
Summary: The League's hopes had always rested on the children of dead men and women. However, as a byproduct of their single greatest folly, one such child may be the League's undoing or perhaps one of its champions. (A Game-verse AU with Influences from the Pokémon Adventures Manga)


**Chapter 1: The Quiz Master Knows.  
**  
Blaine was a solitary man, for the most part. Most men his age would be retired in a secluded beach house rather than managing a pokemon gym near an active volcano. Yet he preferred his job, and the opportunity of testing the knowledge and experience of eager youths who challenge his gym over a lazy life on a hermitage.

Blaine felt it was his duty to make sure that the next generation of pokemon trainers are ready. To make sure that they are strong and quick witted enough so that they could be prepared for the trails and dangers that awaited them and their pokemon.

For, the world they live in was not always kind, as he knew from experience.

The memory of war seems almost like a distant memory, far from the rolling waves against the Cinnabar shoreline. Almost like a bad dream. Yet, the statistics printed in black and white on the newspaper Blaine kept in his study tell otherwise. If asked about the number of men and women who died in combat or as collateral damage, the number of children left fatherless and orphaned, and the shear number of graves filled with the bodies of men and pokemon alike, Blaine would answer with the numbers that have been branded on his mind for almost forty years.

Most people in Kanto chose to forget those numbers, to avoid the pain of teaching their children or grandchildren of them. Even the League, who emerged from the debris of war, insisted on looking towards the future and praying that the past does not repeat itself.

The League's hopes had always rested on the children of dead men and women. Children, who flock to the League Gym doors, who want proof of their strength, to be told that they are not just master's of pokemon but of their own fate as well. Blaine was a Gym Leader because of the responsibility he has to those children. Their dreams have to be cared for and nurtured like the flowers growing in Cinnabar's rocky soil.

It was this responsibility that brought Blaine to the eastern edge of the island at dusk. Attacks and encounter's with pokemon not indigenous to the island with unnaturally high power levels have sporadically occurred in Cinnabar and the surrounding water routes. One swimmer almost died drowning while under the effects of a wild Vileplume's Stun Spore if it weren't for a passing trainer's aid.

Residents of Cinnabar were advised to stay indoors and the water routs closed off by local authorities, until the League could determine the cause of this pokemon outbreak. Blaine was now following up a report made three days ago by a carpenter who lives near the east beach.

The man clamed to have stumbled on a disturbing sight and sound while collecting driftwood for souvenir carvings that he normally sold to visitors, just hours before the first random attacks happened. The carpenter claimed he saw something that he could only describe as television static hovering over the water. It had no definite shape but seemed to flicker between various symmetrical shapes making a different pitched noise with every change. It wasn't until the anomaly let out a horrifying screech that the man ran from the shoreline back into town.

Now the carpenter was a well known hermit so his story was dismissed at first until it was mentioned in passing by one of Blane's gym trainers. It was Blaine who got the full interview from the witness, himself, and an interesting fact that caught his attention. The carpenter returned to the beach the day after the sighting and saw it covered in a mound of pink goo.

So Blaine was now combing the east beach with his Arcanine and Growlithe at his side. Looking for any clues any hint that could lead him to the answers he was looking for.

Growlithe was dutifully sniffing for any traces of people or Pokemon that were not carried away by the surf while Arcanine scanned the area for any threats. Blaine had strapped onto his back a portable computer to analyzing any abnormalities in the immediate area through the handheld scanner he had jacked in. The tech was clunky, and a little dated, but was the only thing Blaine had on the island until the League could send better equipment.

"Growlithe, check over there! Arcanine, be ready for anything!" Blaine ordered the fire pup to investigate a large heat signature the scanner had picked up under the rocky sand.

Growlithe barked once before springing onto the area his trainer pointed out while Arcanine lollopped behind the puppy pokemon. Soon enough Growlithe's paws were coated in a wet layer of sand as it dug into the uneven ground. Arcanine watched over its unevolved form's slowly growing hole, looking for any threats that could emerge. Blaine made sure to come at low tide so that the ocean waves would not impede his fire pokemon's work, though he prides himself for training up his pokemon's endurance against water, the constant drag from the sea would have slowed down the investigation considerably.

The hole became at least one foot deep before Growlithe found something buried in the sand. Arcanine gave the hole a few cautious sniffs before nodding to Blaine. The old gym leader walked between his two faithful pokemon and stooped down to set his load down before inspecting the hole.

Blaine drew a flashlight from his lab-coat and illuminated the hole's bottom; a shimmering pink ooze was peeking through a film of sand. A sharp intake of breath followed by the slipping on of medical gloves and the appearance of a long haired brush, Blane would have to act with delicate swiftness if the subject was still alive.

Blaine dusted off the dust from the unmoving Ditto and carefully scooped it out of the hole onto a waiting tray. Its consistency worried him, while healthy Ditto's normaly have a strong elasticity to their anamorphous bodies this one was seeping through his fingers like goo.

Blaine's heart skipped a beat when he heard the poor thing moan quietly; thankfully the transform pokemon was alive if not barely.

"There might be other Ditto like this one. Arcanine help Growlithe dig up any others!"

Blaine's pokemon obeyed their trainer's command and set to work sniffing and digging out the other Ditto. Meanwhile, Blaine began examining the injured pokemon. The poor thing was exhausted, while Ditto are highly adaptive pokemon and can survive in even the harshest conditions, being buried underneath a layer of sand and saltwater still drained most of its health away. Blaine liberally sprayed a Full Restore onto the pink blob and rubbed the healing oils into its membrane. Ditto seemed to perk up a bit and returned Blaine a small openmouthed smile, but the results from the portable computer indicated that the pokemon was still not completely healed.

Blaine berated himself from lacking the foresight of bringing a nurse with him for this kind of situation. Yet, he couldn't risk bringing a civilian into the same area where hostile and powerful pokemon could appear in an instant, even though Blaine wasn't so sure himself what he was looking for now. Something must have disabled these pokemon to have allowed the tide to bury them in the sand. Whether or not it was the carpenter's static monster he could not say until he gathered more data.

After a few minutes and, several more Ditto found and recovered from the beach, a loud beep from the computer signaled an anomaly was found in the diagnostic scan of Ditto. Blane was astounded. While it was normal for a Ditto to have an unstable cellular matrix, since it was a pokemon that could functionally copy the cell structure of other life forms, Blaine hadn't seen variables like this outside of a controlled experiment! These numbers were not natural, let alone safe for a single pokemon!

Why, Blaine hadn't seen numbers like this since… No…

No it couldn't be.

Blaine froze. The glow of the small computer screen reflected off his glasses.

No, this couldn't be related to the project. No, Blaine _knew_ it couldn't be related to _that_ project. The project was fully terminated. The program was destroyed. Any files left were wiped, the Leauge made sure they were wiped. Blaine _**made sure**_ they were wiped! There were _**no traces**_ left!

Blaine's hands began to shake without him noticing, but his Growlithe whined and Arcanine looked on in concern of his old friend.

The project was terminated. The program was destroyed. The subject—was far away from here. Safe, under constant surveillance, sealed away. The team members, the survivors, they all swore to secrecy. The children—

Blaine gasped, clutched his right arm in a vice-grip, the one that had the scars from the fire. A memory burned into his mind, replayed itself.

Children huddled beneath their beds or under rubble. Children wide-eyed and scared from the explosions that tore the mansion apart, children who had caught sight of the creature the adults were growing in the lab downstairs while it rampaged. Three children were found unmoving. One child never found. Children who did not ask to be involved, who were property of the government, the children of dead soldiers and missing parents with no families appearing to claim them after the war. Children that scientists assured were necessary for the success of the project.

Blaine and Fuji made sure to memorize each of their names so that they could feel more comfortable… Fuji would even read them stories about his travels to exotic lands after testing.

Those children were gathered together in one room a week after the incident, before a group of highly trained psychic pokemon. To bear the memory of it was punishment for their own mistakes, punishment the League felt the children were exempt from. But in all actuality it was the Government covering up its tracts and the League keeping good report with the people.

So those remaining children were all quietly put away into orphanages, the League's closely guarded secret was erased from the records, and Blane's best friend left the island a broken man.

A sharp tug on his coat tails broke Blaine from these recollections. Growlite bit the starch white cloth firmly between its teeth and looked at the shaken old man with pleading eyes.

"Are you okay?" It seemed to ask.

Blaine was ashamed, how could he be so easily rattled by numbers on a screen, numbers that could very well be an error made by faulty machinery? He placed a weathered hand on top of the pup's head.

"I'm fine," He assured. His fingers ran through the cream colored tuft of hair on Growlithe's head.

Blaine looked towards the disappearing rays of sunlight on the horizon. "We'll need to get these Ditto transported to the PokemonCenter before the tide comes in. I'll call the Gym so we can get a few extra hands." Blaine took out his cellular phone.

"… … … Hello, it's Blaine. Listen I may have found a lead on what may have caused the pokemon outbreak. Send some able trainers my way at the east beach, there's some wild Ditto that need to be taken to the PokemonCenter for testing. … … … Could the feral pokemon be transformed Ditto? No, they would have changed back after the League captured- Hello? You're breaking up- you…"

"**BEEP-BEEP**-**Danger!** **Radical Anomaly Detected-Evacuate Area**-**E**-_**evac**_-**_u_**-_a_-_t_…!" The alarm from the machine was cut off and the screen suddenly went black, as if all the power was suddenly sapped from it. The Ditto were thrown into a panic, some jumping back into the holes they were dug out from. Arcanine's body became taut and a low growl overpowered the panicked voices of the pink blobs around its feet. Growlithe stood its ground near Blane franticly looking every which way to see where the threat could be.

Blaine's hair stood up. He felt a small discharge of energy from the cell phone just sharp enough to make him drop it. As he looked around to see this anomaly for himself he noticed the small pools of water surrounding them suddenly sparking with some kind of electrical energy.

Then, as if some invisible hand turned a dial, Blaine saw something appear above the water. Something that could only be described as… television static.

_**Pallet Town:**_** 22:48**

Professor Oak sat at his desk poring over some new data on the local wildlife, both pokemon and non-pokemon, surrounding PalletTown. Many respected ecologists argued that if left unchecked pokemon would completely wipe out the indigenous fauna and flora of the Kanto region, disrupting the trophic pyramid, and eliminating vital food sources for many of the native species, including humans. Professor Oak found their arguments unfounded and utterly hogwash.

While pokémon have become more commonly seen out in the open by humans, there have been no drastic changes to any of the plant and wildlife of Kanto. In fact their have been multiple observations of common rats being assimilated into large groupings of Rattata in heavily populated areas. While this does nothing to increase the rat populations, thankfully, since pokemon seem to be unable to breed with their species counterparts.

Botanists have recorded rare and previously considered extinct species of plant life flourishing in areas with many pokemon, and in Hoenn several new strains of berry plant have been discovered. These and other signs point to pokemon being integrated successfully into the surrounding ecosystem.

The professor considered the dispute to be another attempt by the university academia to label pokemon as an ecological threat in order to create unrest with the people as well as discredit not only the League's work but also Oak's own field of study. Almost a decade after the war, yet there are still men and women who would give anything to remove the League and have the capture and exchange of pokemon become unregulated again

It is only through the steady increase of Leauge registered trainers that Kanto was becoming a safer place. Yet there was still the threat of social upheaval if the rumors of a new organized criminal ring proved to be true. Reports of theft, arson, poaching, and even kidnapping have steadily increased over the years, and while Kanto has a police force it has only just started to train officers on how to handle pokemon in active combat.

Oak knew that many people up until the more recent generation were still afraid of pokemon, mainly because they did not fully understand them and pokemon had yet to become more present in their daily lives. Despite pokemon having lived for centuries, they had previously inhabited only the more obscure and untouched wilderness, with only a handful of travelers and villagers to have interaction with them, let alone learn to understand them. However, with cities getting bigger and encroaching on the surrounding landscape, the routes that connect the townships together cut through caves, forests, and oceans active with pokemon hostile against invaders. The profession of pokemon trainer became higher in demand.

This made Oak's new prototype all the more urgent. If he could create a device that could record and exchange data on pokemon and place it in the hands of every young trainer in the League, he swore it could change the world.

Professor Oak looked steadily at the small rectangular machine he had left on his workbench. Just a few more days and maybe he would be able to show his associates at the League Headquarters. Oak already knew he would need help. Kanto had plenty of pokemon but not all of them. More and more would be discovered in time.

An alert from his computer derailed Oak's train of thought however. A new message, but who would try to contact him at this hour?

It was from the League.

It requested his presence on Cinnabar immediately and to bring a full team of six for the journey. The message was sparse in details, but it suggested something happened to Blaine. Oak already knew that the odd phenomena of outbreaks of high level pokemon in the area had the League on edge, but this sounded different. This was much more urgent than some rouge pokemon. Or perhaps, it was just one rouge pokemon.

Oak shuddered at the thought of **_it_** returning to the island.

His mind was made up. Preperations were made, his desk could be put in order by his aids in the morning, and his old friends were brought out of the laboratory back room. Oak hastily wrote out a letter to Daisy explaining the situation but leaving out any hints of danger he did not need his grandchildren worrying. He would come back in a few days and they should expect a message sometime tomorrow.

_Oak couldn't help but be a little worried though._

* * *

**A/N: **This is the start of my first ever multi-chaptered story! Will I be able to do it? Will I mess up royally and disappoint everyone/anyone? Will I misrepresent everything the Pokémon franchise stands for and have the entire fandom hate me? Stay tuned and find out!

Please contact me with suggestions, corrections, and comments!


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